Tag: sewing

Are you Kidding me? My November One Monthly Goal

I feel like such an idiot.  So, I was working along about six weeks ago, quilting away.  I was going way outside my comfort zone on this one.  Then, I suddenly noticed a huge mistake.  I have no idea how I could have overlooked something so glaring as this.  Do you see it?  OMG, I was so mad at myself that I put this quilt away and refused to look at it.  This kind of careless stuff frustrates me so very much.  I have no one to be mad at but myself.   I have come to the decision that one of my alternate personality is not to bright. I should name her.   I opt for Ninny (AKA Nincompoop).

In case you didn’t notice, there are 3 camels in a row.  Just saying that, makes me mad. ARGHHHHHH.  What was I thinking?  I looked at this over and over and managed to miss this?  Jeez.

Anyway, I should still finish it, even if it is just for quilting practice.  The quilting is about half completed.  I have decided to make it my One Monthly Goal for November.  I plan to complete it including the binding and then hide it for eternity.   Ho Hum…

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Fidget Blankets and a visit from the Fabric Gnome

So, This past weekend I got barely anything accomplished.  Saturday was the big Ohio State Game.  Go Bucks! then Sunday we were at the rental cleaning since we will be getting new tenants this weekend.  Very little sewing went on.  I did, however manage to complete 2 fidget blankets.   My guild was making them for a doctor who gives them to Alzheimer patients.  We were just asked to complete the fabric portion.  The Doctors office will add all the fidgety items.  They sew on socks and elastic bandages and plastic keys and satin ribbon etc…  Great idea.  I looked them up and they average about $45.00 each.  The back needed to be flannel or fleece so it easily stayed on laps and the front could be any combination of scraps.  Finished size is approximately 18 by 24 inches.  Pretty Simple.

And….The fabric gnome came by again….  Darn that gnome.  This time he left me someWaterMark_2017-10-26-19-40-44_resized (1) southwestern prints and colors.  Okay, truth be told, I got a $20 gift card from Connecting Threads for renewing my American Quilters Society Membership.  Being that renewal was $20 and I got a $20 gift card, how could I go wrong?  I ended up getting 8 yards for $28.00.  IT was on sale.  I can never resist a good sale.  I already have a design in mind.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

 

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer…

Had a very red nose in this case.  I like Rudolph.  I might like a quilt with all the reindeer.

I will say that all these pieces were a bit reminiscent of the dog quilt I am working on.  Used a lot of the same methods and tiny pieces, so this one I did not think was all that bad.  I managed to stick with my snow flaked themed fabric.  I think it is coming together nicely.  I find I am really enjoying the “I Wish you A Merry Quilt Along“.

It is never too late to get started.  You can still get links to all the blocks from several places.  Snowy Days Quilting did this block and you can find the link to all others there too.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

WaterMark_2017-10-26-20-01-19

I Wish You a Merry Quilt Along Block #8

Well, I managed to get something done after my “Hot Tub Incident“.  I didn’t exactly follow the instructions for this block.  I guess I had something else on my mind.  I think it goes well with all my other blocks and I got to use more of my snowflake fabric.

Thank you to everyone for their well wishes.  It was truly appreciated.  A special thank you to Nanette Chopin Cook for calling to check on me.  It really made my day.  Quilters really are the nicest people.

Today was my quilt guilds “Quilt Wars”.  We drew cards to determine what group we were in and were given a bag of fabric.  Then we had to work together to create a top.  It was quite enjoyable.  They will all be quilted and given to charity.  I was so busy I neglected to get any pictures.  I am sure they will bring them to the next meeting.  Glad I felt well enough to attend.  It is good to get out and be with like-minded people.

So, for my One monthly goal, I finally got to work on the test dog block.  I got everything cut out and even started sewing it.

My mind is always wandering to other projects, but I have so many already started, not to mention the holidays are right around the corner.  Must get to work

WaterMark_2017-10-21-20-01-11Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

I wish you a Merry Quilt Along

Fat Girl Falls Down Again

I feel I am allowed to make fun of myself.  So, what dumb thing did I manage to do this time?  As I was getting out of my lovely new hot tub, the steps slipped and I went with them.  Falling about 3 and half feet to the concrete.  Let’s see I had a baseball on the back of my head, the underneath part of my arm is black and blue, about a soccer ball sized bruise on my left side rib cage and and equally sized one on my backside.  Also sprained

a wrist and black and blue right kneecap (not sure how that one happened everything else was left side).  Needless to say, everything hurts.  Thank god it was dark out.  I imagine it was quite a site.  Of course my cell phone went flying so I had to crawl to it to call Kev for some help. He spent the rest of the night checking on me to make sure I did not have a concussion. Well, I am pretty sure this will take a bit of time to recover.  Thank God I did not break my arm or wrist. It would have seriously impacted my projects.  Whew.

So, when I am not falling down, I seem to be wandering form project to project, not doing what I really should be doing.  These baby bibs have been laying on my sewing cabinet unfinished for months, so I picked them up and finished them.  I will put them in the cedar chest for my one-day grandchild.  They are up-cycled from my jeans.  I need to be working on my one monthly goal and my quarterly goals, but of course I am doing something else.

This weekend I am supposed to be attending Quilt Wars with my Quilt Guild, however, given my current condition, I am not sure I am going to make it.  I am uncomfortable sitting, laying basically anything.  The only place I am not uncomfortable is in the hot tub and that is what started the whole mess in the first place.  Ugh.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

I have a dream…To Make a Dog Quilt

Sometimes I sound like a total fruit loop.  However, there is some truth to it. For quite some time I have had an idea to make several dog quilts.  They needed to be my own design and I wanted to be able to make some that can somehow raise money for rescues.

I have been involved with rescues before and rescued quite a few dogs.  I don’t really foster much any more, because I end up keeping them and sometimes the Rheumatoid 20170904_191741_resizedarthritis gets me, so I have to find an alternate way to help.  I do have three dogs.  currently only one is a rescue.  Snibble was rescued from a farmer who’s dog had 13 puppies,  She was the only girls and all the boys were biting her and not letting her eat.  My late husband Derrick brought her home to me.  She fit in the palm of his hand.  She is a Chihuahua/Pug or a Chihuapug as Haley used to say.

This quilt will be mine.   It is to honor my beloved dog, Koko. We got Koko for my daughter Miranda, and because I think she knew I was not a “dog” person, she picked me.  She did not want Miranda, but wanted me.  I quickly fell in love with her.  She was my best friend.  She licked away my tears through the death of both my husbands and both my parents.  She was Haley’s biggest protector.  The only time she did not sleep with me was when Haley was a baby.  She mostly slept under her crib.  Koko was a Chocolate Lab.  She was very dark in color and unless she stood next to a black lab she was often mistaken for one.  We referred to her as Semi-Sweet Chocolate because of her color and protective nature.  I miss her dearly.

So, my quilt will have the dog appliques.  I used a technique that has no waste.  You cut image_1the applique out in one piece and then use both pieces.  It worked really well.  So, I have actually designed the entire thing and am slowly working on getting all the pieces together.  Funny thing, there are flying geese in this quilt and as I was drawing it, I realized that I had never made flying geese before.  I actually had to look up a good way to make them and how to get them just the right size for my quilt.  This quilt uses 8.5 inch blocks.

I like the applique.  It reminds me of my Koko.  If this quilt turns out well, I will make another that I can hopefully make for a rescue to sell raffle tickets for or auction off.

You can see from the princess crown she is wearing, that Haley dressed her up and made her wear crowns.  We sometimes referred to her as Princess Koko.  I did not think it was possible for me to love an animal as much as I loved her.

 

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

The 70,237 Project. I had no idea.

The 70,237 project was started by Jeanne Hewell-Chambers.  I encourage you to go to her site and read about this project.  Below is an excerpt (italics).  When you go to her site and look around you will see people all across the world participating.  You will see that these quilts get shown all across the world.  Just glance through all the blog posts.

For some reason with all the craziness going on in our world today, this project struck me as something I needed to do.  Being that quilters are some of the most generous people I know, I wanted to share in case there might be even one more person out there who would like to participate.  On October 14th (see Global Block day Below), Haley and I will make a few more blocks and send them in.

block partyThey are having A #GLOBALBLOCKDAY on October 14th.  The last blog post I read had between 20k and 30k completed.  There is still a lot to be done.

It won’t take much of your time.  I made the 5 above in less than about 45 minutes from scraps.

We (The 70,237 project) are gathering 70,273 blocks of fabric, marked with two red crosses to commemorate the number of physically and mentally disabled men, women and children who were murdered between January 1940 and August 1941 in the Aktion T4 Programme – a largely unrecognized atrocity.  

The two red crosses represent the marks made by the assessing Doctors as to whether the person was deemed ‘unfit’ or an economic burden on Nazi society. It is such a simple symbol, and in this project, the simplicity with which someone could sign someone’s life away is turned into a symbol of love and strength. The white fabric represents the medical records – the only information assessing physicians used in making their life-and-death determinations. Seeing the crosses stitched together sends a powerful message of tolerance, community and love. Its impact comes from the huge variety of these two red marks – each beautiful in their own perfectly imperfect way.
The blocks will be stitched into quilts and wall hangings and will be displayed in Rochester, Lincoln and Durham Cathedrals during January 2018, to mark National Holocaust Memorial Day. After that, these quilts will join others made around the world to appear in exhibits near and far. 

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

#GLOBALBLOCKDAY

 

Surprising that my mess turned into this…

I was not sure that I had a whole lot of hope for this piece.   I thought it might be pretty, 20171001_195117_resized (1) but getting it laid out so the iron on bias tape would cover properly was quite a trick.  It took me more time to lay it out than to sew and bind.

I am pretty sure I had the iron on binding tape for about 15 years.  surprisingly it still worked and stuck when I ironed it on.  It would have looked better with gold metallic but I did not have any.  Seems like there is not much of this stuff around.  Only found a couple of colors at joann.com.  Oddly one of them was gold.  Still looks nice with the yellow.

If Mom was here, I would have finished this into a table topper and taken it to her.  She loved Poinsettia’s.  Each year around the holidays I would always take her the biggest one I could find.  This is going to hang on my front door and every time I look at it, I will think of her.

I might make a table topper for myself.  I would have to use different colors because I would have to use up the bias tape that I have.  Maybe Blue or Pink.  Need to see what kind of fabric I can find that would work.  We shall see.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

2017 Q4 Finish Along – Can I do it All?

Well, I this is new to me.  Seems like a really good idea.  I have had much success with the One Monthly Goal.  I am hoping that this one will give some extra incentive to get projects done.  I have ambitiously put 6 projects on here.  Yikes!  I hate to lose, so I hope I can get them all finished along with the 10,000 other projects I will start along the way.  If you are interested in Participating, Please go to She Can Quilt.

So, for Quarter 4 I am going to finish the following:

20170905_203052_resized#1 Flannel Baby Quilt – Needs quilting and Binding.

 

 

 

 

20170813_185057_resized (1)#2 Safari Baby Quilt – Needs quilting finished and Binding

 

 

 

 

20170816_193127_resized.jpg#3 – The Ugly Quilt – Needs quilting and Binding.  Jeez, I hope I can stand it.  still Might have to change something on this in order to tolerate it.

 

 

 

20170702_182615_resized#4 Zipper Quilt – Needs quilted and Binding.

 

 

 

 

20170310_094411#5 The Fourth and Final Dog Bone Dresser scarf.  This is an EPP project and is partly pieced.  I am so tired of these, since it is the fourth one I have done.  Ughhh.  The last one is taking forever.

 

 

20170511_184141#6 – Table Topper that has been laying around for quite some time.  Needs borders, quilting and binding.

 

 

scan q

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

#2017FALQ4QuiltingNeeds

Just a little Scrap Busting with Flannel….Ehh

In the midst of my crankiness, I kept looking at this pile of scrap flannel that was just taking up valuable space (on my pool table AKA quilt project table).  So, I just decided to cut it up and see what I could get.  I had a bunch of blues and some lavender and purple.  This is what I got out of the blues with just a few squares left over for the scrap bin.  It will make an OK gift or donation baby quilt.  Just some weird sized square blocks.  I had to use what I had the best way I could.  Just did some meandering for the quilting.  Nothing special.  This was a thinking quilt, meaning I did a lot of thinking while I was working on it,  not about the quilt, it did not take much thinking, but about my general crankiness.  I came to no real conclusions.  I am still a bit cranky.

So, I often wonder if I am the only one with weird issues.  I don’t really like to make quilts out of flannel.  The weirdness is that I think/feel that the fuzziness of flannel always looks dirty when I am done.  It looks like it has been laying around a while and needs to go into the washer.  I even try to be careful and make sure that my machine table is clean and that I always have clean hands, but the fuzziness of the flannel always looks dirty.  Just wondering if that is Compulsive Lori overthinking or anyone else ever feels that way?

I need to get over it, because at some point in my life I bought a bunch of flannel.  I need to do something with it.  Some of it is actually cute, but it is flannel.  Ugh.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting